AT&T calls for LMR-like hardening, coverage for FirstNet in-building systems

LAS VEGAS—AT&T supports the notion that in-building systems supporting first-responder communications on FirstNet should meet public-safety-grade requirements for coverage and resiliency, but questions remain about the business model for building owners that are expected to provide most—if not all—of the funding.

Steve Devine, AT&T’s director of public-safety policy and strategy for FirstNet, said that in-building coverage requirement for FirstNet on 700 MHz Band 14 spectrum should mirror the requirements that fire codes have for land-mobile-radio (LMR) systems, not just a typical in-building commercial deployment. This would require additional hardening of the systems and mandate coverage in areas of structures where public-safety works.

“FirstNet is a public-safety network—it’s public safety’s network,” Devine said yesterday during a session at IWCE 2022 coordinated by the Safer Buildings Coalition (SBC). “We really feel that the in-building solution really needs to be a step up beyond what we would do commercially in those buildings. We have a model that works in conjunction with OEMs and integrators to bring the signal source to that building, so the DAS providers can work with that and work with the building owner in that space.

“But we really think that Band 14 coverage in the building—and the building owner’s told by the AHJ to bring the building up to code—that should be the LMR experience, which is what it is in that jurisdiction, and it also should be for Band 14.

“We really think that Band 14 should be built to that higher bar that the jurisdiction is expecting of the LMR spectrum in that building. We think those stairwells, bathrooms, electrical rooms and the pump rooms—those areas that may not get covered in a commercial space—we think Band 14 should provide coverage in those facilities.”

In the past, getting AT&T to provide a signal source to a building has been problematic, because the process could take nine months or longer—a timeline that does not work well with tight schedules associated with building construction. Doug McElroy, the principal RF engineer at AT&T, said the carrier is working to reduce that signal-source processing time to six weeks.

“As I work through this new process, I think I’m there already, frankly,” McElroy said. “We’re doing much more complicated direct projects right now in six or eight weeks, and this is not as complicated as having to design it and everything else, so I think that’s reasonable.”

Meanwhile, the Safer Buildings Coalition is in the process of developing a handbook that outlines the best practices that stakeholders can use when developing in-buildings systems that are designed to provide first responders with communications. The first edition of the handbook is expected to be available by the end of the year, according to SBC Executive Director Alan Perdue.

Such commitments from AT&T and SBC represent significant strides in clarifying the technical and process landscapes associated with providing in-building communications to public-safety personnel. However, one of the biggest challenges associated with in-building deployment—convincing a building owner to pay for an in-building system designed to support first responders—appears to continue to be a challenge.

Devine said the in-building industry and public safety should not count on AT&T funding an in-building initiative.

“No, I don’t think we’re going to write a big check,” Devine said. “I think we’re going to work with the AHJs [authorities having jurisdiction], the building owners and the public-safety community in the development of the solutions that work best for them.

One potential alternative source of funding for an in-building FirstNet initiative is the FirstNet Authority, which has long included in-building coverage in its roadmap document and is projected to have about $15 billion to reinvest in the FirstNet system.

Jeff Johnson, a former FirstNet Authority board member, stressed that such an investment decision would be at the discretion of the board, but helping to bolster in-building coverage would be a legitimate reinvestment idea for the FirstNet Authority to consider.

“There is value in painting that picture to the FirstNet board about how their investment can be leveraged to overall make it better for public safety and their partner, and we should think about it overall,” Johnson said.

“There is a return-on-investment value proposition to be made. We just have to think about it beyond doing it the same old way and expecting a different result. It’s within their power, and I think that, if you present them with a business case, I fully expect them to take it seriously.”

“I think we’ve got a couple of different models and a couple of different tools. There’s more than one way to provide Band 14 and AT&T’s other bands in a building. Some are more complex than others, but the good news is—like everything else at FirstNet—there are a number of different ways to do it. It’s up to the agency to decide which solution—and there is a number of them to choose from—that best suits their needs.”